6 killed after vintage aircraft collide at Dallas air show

Two historical navy planes collided and crashed to the ground in a ball of flames during a Dallas air show, leaving six people lifeless, officials stated.

National transportation officials have been investigating the cause of Saturday’s collision, which came three years after the crash of a World War II-era bomber in Connecticut that killed seven, and amid ongoing challenge approximately the safety of air shows regarding older warplanes.
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Emergency crews raced to the crash scene at the Dallas Executive Airport, approximately 10 miles (sixteen kilometers) from the city’s downtown. News photos from the scene confirmed crumpled wreckage of the planes in a grassy location within the airport perimeter.

The in-air collision for the duration of the Wings over Dallas air display claimed six lives, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tweeted Sunday, mentioning the county health worker. Authorities are continuing to paintings to become aware of the sufferers, he stated. It become not clear if there were any injuries or fatalities on the ground. Dallas Fire-Rescue instructed The Dallas Morning News there have been no reviews of accidents there.Officials did now not specify what number of people have been interior every plane, but Hank Coates, president of the enterprise that put on the air display, said one of the planes, a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, normally has a crew of four to five human beings. The different, a P-sixty three Kingcobra fighter plane, has a single pilot.

No paying clients had been on the plane, stated Coates, of Commemorative Air Force, which additionally owned the planes. The aircraft are flown by way of distinctly educated volunteers, often retired pilots, he stated.

The National Transportation Safety Board took manage of the crash scene, with nearby police and fire supplying support, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said. The Federal Aviation Administration also changed into going to research, officers said.

“The videos are heartbreaking,” Johnson said on Twitter.“It became pulverized,” said Yeager, sixty four, who lives in Fort Worth.

“We have been just hoping they had all gotten out, however we knew they didn’t,” she said of those on board.

The B-17, a cornerstone of U.S. Air strength throughout World War II, is a massive four-engine bomber used in daylight raids in opposition to Germany. The Kingcobra, a U.S. Fighter plane, became used broadly speaking by Soviet forces at some stage in the warfare. Most B-17s have been scrapped at the cease of World War II and most effective a handful continue to be nowadays, largely featured at museums and air indicates, in keeping with Boeing.

Several videos published on social media confirmed the fighter aircraft appearing to fly into the bomber, causing them to fast crash to the ground and putting off a big ball of fireplace and smoke.“It became certainly terrible to see,” stated spectator Aubrey Anne Young, 37, of Leander, Texas. Her children have been in the hangar with their father whilst it came about. “I’m nevertheless looking to make sense of it.”

A woman subsequent to Young may be heard crying and screaming on a video that Young uploaded to her Facebook page.

Air show safety — especially with older army plane — has been a problem for years. In 2011, 11 people have been killed in Reno, Nevada, when a P-51 Mustang crashed into spectators. In 2019, a bomber crashed in Hartford, Connecticut, killing seven humans. The NTSB said then that it had investigated 21 crashes given that 1982 involving World War II-technology bombers, resulting in 23 deaths.

Wings Over Dallas bills itself as “America’s Premier World War II Airshow,” consistent with a internet site advertising the occasion. The display was scheduled for Nov. Eleven-13, Veterans Day weekend, and guests had been to see greater than forty World War II-era aircraft. Its Saturday afternoon schedule of flying demonstrations blanketed the “bomber parade” and “fighter escorts” that featured the B-17 and P-sixty three.